Air India grounds air hostess after she accidentally opens chute upon landing

Air India has grounded one of its air-hostesses after she accidentally deployed the evacuation chute of a Delhi-Mumbai flight.

The same aircraft which was scheduled to operate to US was delayed due to the incident. (Reuters)

Air India has grounded one of its air-hostesses after she accidentally deployed the evacuation chute of a Delhi-Mumbai flight. She opened the chute after the plane landed in Mumbai and reached the parking area, according to PTI. The incident took place yesterday at around 7:30 pm on Air India 102 flight. According to Times of India, the chute was inflated near a catering van that was near the aircraft loaded with meals for the next flight. An AI official said the investigation is underway and the cabin crew has admitted her mistake. The official added the flight has reached its parking bay in auto mode when the air-hostess opened the R2 door escape slide, as per TOI.

The same aircraft which was scheduled to operate to US was delayed due to the incident. The air-hostess will undergo a refresher training course as this type of a mistake is costly and dangerous, as per the report. Inflatable evacuation slides in the aircraft are used to vacate the flight under emergency situation.

An evacuation slide is an inflatable slide used to evacuate an aircraft quickly. An escape slide is required on all commercial aircraft. As per, the Federal Aviation Administration all aircraft requires slides on doors where the floor is 6 feet or more above the ground. Inadvertent slide deployment leads to delays as the aircraft cannot take off for another flight till all doors have a packed chute, the report added.